Kentucky Headhunters are still going strong

For those people who think The Kentucky Headhunters began as part of the Garth Brooks-led country music revolution of the late 1980s and early '90s -- think again. These "bluegrass metalheads" had a whole other life as a rock and roll band dating back to 1969.

"We've been an original rock band. They used to call us the best-known unknown rock band in the South," said Richard Young, a founding member of the Headhunters and, before them, Itchy Brother, in Edmonton, Ky.

Whatever you call them -- and their music (heavy metal bluegrass, southern rock, longhair country) -- The Kentucky Headhunters are still going strong, as they'll show on Saturday, June 24, when they play the Rock, Ribs and Ridges festival for the first time.

For a group that used to do the full circuit of New York-New Jersey clubs, including The Stone Pony and B.B. King's, returning to the Northeast is a big treat.

"We're really excited about it. It's gotten to be such a job getting into the city and playing because of the disastrous things that happened in 2001. We really don't do that anymore. So we're looking at this as our New York-New Jersey gig," Young said.

"Plus, any time we get to play with Charlie (Daniels) and Marshall Tucker, you know it will be a great time," said Young, who is joined in the band by his brother Fred Young, their cousin Greg Martin and longtime friend Doug Phelps.

The Kentucky Headhunters were, indeed, part of the "new" country when they broke through with their debut album, "Pickin' On Nashville," on Mercury Records in October 1989. The title was apropos, since as rockers they had been wary of Nashville. The music was as much hard rock as it was country.

"If someone had told me back in the '70s that we were gonna have success as a southern rock band in country music, I wouldn't have believed them," Young said. But that's exactly what happened.

"Pickin' On Nashville" won the 1990 Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and featured four Top 40 singles -- "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine," "Oh Lonesome Me," "Dumas Walker" and "Rock 'n' Roll Angel."

The group released eight more albums, but never duplicated the success of "Pickin' On Nashville." The most recent, "On Safari," came out last November, just a few months before Richard and Fred Young's father died. The group cut the album in three days.

"We kinda learned at our age we're better off going in green and spontaneous," Young said. "It's got a certain spiritual vibe to it. You could tell there was some kind of urgency and electricity about it."

Growing up on a farm in Kentucky (where they still live), the Youngs were exposed to all kinds of music -- in the fields, in church, in their home. They loved rock and roll and avoided country music.

"But we had this influx of music coming at us from all different directions," Young said. "Regardless of whether we wanted it, it was absorbing into our souls."

Early on, they worked with the legendary blues pianist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Johnnie Johnson, who had played with everyone from Chuck Berry to The Rolling Stones. In 2015, knowing Johnson was ill with cancer, they pulled some of the old tapes out from under someone's bed and, with the help of Alligator Records, put out the critically acclaimed "Meet Me in Bluesland," which went to No. 1 on the blues chart.

"It was all there, like the hand of God did it," Young said. "I was proud for us but even more proud for Johnnie's family. He died six months after we put it out."

Death seems a prominent part of the Headhunters' story, and that of Itchy Brother. The Youngs' earlier rock group was on the cusp of a recording contract with Led Zeppelin's label, Swan Song, in 1980, when Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham, died.

"That ended that," Young said.

Capricorn Records, original label of The Allman Brothers Band and Marshall Tucker Band, was going to sign Itchy Brother in 1983, but company head Frank Fenter died, and the label soon faded.

"We were gun shy. Everytime we got a record deal or something good happened, somebody died," Young said.

Like most bands, the history of The Kentucky Headhunters involves a revolving cast of characters. Anthony Kenney was a founding member, and Ricky Lee Phelps (Doug's brother), Mark S. Orr and James Harrison were in the band at various times.

The changes no doubt added to the diversity and unpredictability of the music. One thing is predictable. The band will power on, approaching 50 years of making its special brand of music.

"We can't see an end to what we do. I know there will be one. But as long as the four of use are healthy, we'll keep playing," Young said.

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